Kansas Killer
by queenb48
Summary: It's a normal evening in Kansas, but Lucille senses her boys are in grave danger. (Set during the boys childhood) Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

Kansas Killer

I don't own any of the thunderbirds. Read and enjoy this little piece!

**Chapter 1 – Alan's Thoughts**

Dates? Those aren't important. What's important is the engraved image and memory that you can never forget. Remembering their face, the smile they'd give you when life turned sour, their eyes that spoke louder than words ever could and their ability to hold your hand and make everything better. For me? I never had any of that. I can't remember the cooed lullaby's, I don't recall the bedtime stories, and the idea of having a hand to hold on your first day of school? Well, I did have that, but when it's your older brother; it's not quite the same.

Scott had always told me stories, countless times that he recalled a happier time; when we we're altogether. He's the only one who'll tell me what happened. Dad doesn't like me asking and the rest of my brother's still find it too hard to think about; especially Virgil. I understand. Losing someone close to you is never easy. Even if two decades have passed, her memory lives in all of us.

My Mum saved us that day. She gave her life so we could keep ours. She's my one true hero. She's why I do what I do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The wind blew across the farmland as the sun began to dip behind the horizon. One by one the stars appeared slowly across the darkening sky, twinkling like small diamonds. Amongst the open fields, the Tracy household sat quietly with each window lighting up as the night drew in. The warm orange glow surrounded the large farmhouse lovingly as a large SUV pulled up into the enormous driveway. Once parked, a tall business man dressed in a suit emerged from the car with a broad smile on his face. He quickly marched up to the front door, briefcase in hand, and opened the large wooden door quietly. He peeped around into the cream hallway and entered slowly knowing the old floorboards would creek; they did, loudly. He sighed at his failed attempt too enter quietly and instead decided to give in,

" Dad's home!" He called,

Looking around the hallway, there were four different closed doors and the staircase leading to the first floor. He looked around at the numerous number of framed photographs of his family. His particular favourite had been taken at Christmas; all his sons sat around their mother as she read a book to them. Scott held Alan in his lap, and John had Gordon close to his side with Virgil sitting crossed legged in front of his mother. Just as he'd finished looking at the image, three of the four doors flew open in a flash and in unison, Virgil, Gordon and Alan screamed,

"Daddy!"

All three of them flew towards Jeff who prepared for a forceful impact. Dressed in pyjamas and ready for bed, the three launched themselves at Jeff; all going for his torso. He fell to the floor with a thud, but smiling as he did so as he hugged three fifths of his troop,

"Boys! How are we all this evening?"

Virgil, Gordon and Alan all replied in unison,

"Good!"

Jeff cradled his three youngest as his wife appeared at the kitchen door. He caught her eye and locked stares. He gasped at her flawless beauty; as he always did. She gracefully walked over, her sweet smile growing as she hauled her youngest up into her arms. She held Alan close as Jeff met her lips,

"Hey, how was work?" Lucille asked,

"No different from usual" Jeff quickly bypassed as he kissed his wife again.

Lucille smiled and started walking back towards the kitchen with Alan bouncing in her arms; after four boys, carrying another at the age of four didn't bother her. She placed him on the floor where his toy cars scattered the tiles and returned to cleaning the island counter. Jeff was carefully to walk around his youngest blonde as he rolled up his sleeves and playfully stole the sponge from Lucille,

"Hey!" Lucille protested,

"Who spilt yogurt this time?" Jeff snickered, picking the empty pot up,

"Well, I wouldn't say spilt; more thrown" Lucille sadly began,

"Thrown?"

"Just a small scratch between John and Virgil"

"Over what this time?" Jeff sighed having finished cleaning.

John and Virgil hadn't been seeing eye to eye ever since John had been spending more time with Scott. Jeff and Lucille were aware of everything, but with the summer holidays having just begun, Lucille was struggling to control five energized boys. Both herself and Jeff finished cleaning the counters and set off towards the living room, hoisting Alan along with them. They stepped into the warm living room where the fire was crackling red embers. Watching the TV, Virgil and Gordon sat on the sofa together; making room for Alan as he was placed next to them,

"Virgil?" Jeff began as Lucille sat down herself,

"Dad?" Virgil timidly replied,

"What's this about fighting with John again?" Jeff asked with a stern tone,

"It wasn't me! John started it, it's always him; he never wants to play with me anymore! Just Scott"

Jeff nodded sadly having noticed the divide between his sons. He looked to Lucille,

"I'll go speak to John" Jeff said as he removed his suit jacket.

He was quickly intercepted by Lucille, as she handed him Alan's blanket,

"You get these three to bed, and I'll sort out John" Lucille cheekily smiled as she exited the living room.

Jeff looked to his three youngest and didn't move a muscle as grins started to appear on their faces,

"Ok boys, shall we do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

A few seconds passed, after which Jeff lost all control as all three of them darted off in different directions. He laughed warmly as he went after Virgil, knowing where the two youngest where going to go and hide. As he was searching, he heard the wind growing stronger outside and frowned as the lights dimmed. He continued searching, ignoring the growling wind.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 **

Lucille climbed the stairs she'd climbed countless times before, and admired the photographs that climbed the wall. She'd seen them time and time again, but she loved looking at them and could never grow tired of it. Every night, she went to bed with a happy memory fresh in her mind. As she reached the top of the stairs, she looked out of the window; the few trees surrounding the house were shaking violently in the wind. She watched as lightening off in the far distance cracked the sky in half, and lit up the surrounding farmland. She frowned with the knowledge that it was a far too frequent occurrence for freak weather to appear. She smiled when she heard a set of feet scurrying up the stairs; she looked round and saw Gordon jet past her,

"Slow down sweetheart!"

Gordon had turned the corner too quickly to respond and was gone in seconds. Lucille laughed to herself as she began to climb a second set of stairs, leading up into the attic space. She came across three doors; one was the bathroom, one was Scott's room and the other was John's. She looked at all three of them as the lights dimmed slightly and decided to knock on Scott's door first. She received no answer. She tried again,

"Scott? Can I come in?"

Still with no answer, she slowly opened the door to a darkened room and wasn't surprised to see off in the corner where Scott's desk sat, a small spot light being projected at a dismantled part of an engine. She wondered over and placed the sharper tools back into the tool box. After which her attention was drawn to a subtle snore. She looked down at Scott's beanbag and saw him curled up on it,

"Sweetie, wake up" Lucille gently shook him awake,

"Hmmm?" Scott drearily moaned,

"Sweetie, time to make our way to the bed"

With his eyes still closed, Scott dragged his body to his bed. Even stepping over items strewn across the floor, he reached the bed without tripping, until he gave into gravity and fell into his covers. Lucille laughed lightly and manoeuvred the ten year old more into the bed. Once she was happy she kissed him on the head and went to turn out the spot light,

"Love you Mum" Scott whispered before sinking into a deep sleep,

"I love you too sweetie" Lucille smiled and drifted off towards the door.

She was so pleased to have such a well behaved son like Scott; she would've been lost without him. He was always a big help in looking after his siblings and was always good at solving differences between them all. He was a gem to have. Lucille turned to John's bedroom door and wasn't expecting anything quite as easy. She knocked on the door, and received no answer. She sighed and knocked a little harder,

"Johnny?"

"Yeah?" a hushed voice came from the other side of the door.

Lucille took a moment and listened to the wind outside growing in strength. She entered John's room and was always stunned as to what she saw. The room was lit with a thousand specks of light being generated by a planetarium. She watched as the constellations rotated slowly against the slanting walls and ceiling. As she walked further into the room, parts of telescopes and electricals lay everywhere and towards the end of the room a large skylight exposed the night sky. She looked to the bed to see John sat reading an atlas of the solar system,

"Johnny?"

"Yes Mum?" John looked up,

"Why aren't you looking at space?" She pointed to the telescope sat under the skylight,

"It's too cloudy, I think a storm's coming" John nodded.

Lucille looked out the skylight and noticed the rain droplets on the window panel. Her concern grew as the wind continued to howl outside. She turned and smiled at John and sat next to him,

"What was with the outbreak earlier sweetheart?"

John turned away slightly, not wanting to respond,

"Johnny? You can tell me, I promise I won't get angry; you've just been acting very differently lately"

"It isn't my fault" John calmly expressed, "Virgil is the one who is acting out, I spend a couple of days with Scott and he acts all weird. I don't want to be with him if he's gunna be like that"

"Well, Virgil is still young and doesn't really understand. He's just a little jealous"

"Jealous?" John questioned,

"Virgil's just wants to be like you. He just wants to apart of it all"

Lucille sighed not knowing what to suggest. So she sat back with John and cuddled him,

"You know, in a few years you'll want complete rid of your brother's; so don't push them away now. Enjoy being with them, because when your all grown-up you're going to be married with a family-"

"Ewww!" John suddenly exclaimed, followed by a squeak of laughter as Lucille tickled her second eldest,

"Don't leave him out sweetie" Lucille pleaded,

"Ok Mum, I'm sorry. I'll go say sorry to him now"

John quickly hoped off the bed and ran out through the door. Lucille sat tight for a while listening to the weather outside as rain began to hammer down on the skylight. She knew it was going to be a hard night, and the likely hood of John sleeping in Scott's room was high as John had never been able to sleep through thunderstorms by himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 **

As the torrents picked up, Jeff began to worry. He'd managed to get Alan and Virgil to bed, after John had had his little conversation with the brunette; but he was still missing his ginger rebel. Jeff eventually gave up and sat down in front of the flickering fire. He watched the flames dance as the wind whistled down the chimney and made the embers flare.

Lucille eventually joined him, with Gordon slumped over her shoulder; losing the ability to stay awake as he rubbed his eyes. Lucille snuggled him tightly and whispered to him a little lullaby,

"Where'd you find him?" Jeff asked in a surprised manner,

"He was dozing in the airing cupboard on top of the towels. It's a new favourite for him"

Jeff rolled his eyes not having thought about looking there, he stood up and took the heavy five year old off his slim wife. Although she was a strong individual, and able to carry two at a time once upon a time, she's since lost the ability to carry growing boys for an extended amount of time; five boys had really started to knock it out of her and Gordon was just that little bit too much. Jeff let Gordon flop onto his shoulder and carted him upstairs as Lucille allowed herself to unwind downstairs. The rain outside still concerned her as the thunder could be heard more clearly with all the boys in bed; she went and stood next to the window, pulling back the heavy curtain.

She gasped loudly.

It looked as though she was looking at a lake surrounding her house. The rain had come quickly and was taking a while to move on. She looked at the trees which looked as though they'd almost been stripped and all the toys that scattered the lawn; they were moving on their own. She called Jeff over when he finally made it down,

"Jeff, look"

Jeff joined his wife at the window and held her waist as he kissed her neck,

"Rain. I've seen it before honey"

"This is different Jeff. This isn't good"

Jeff could feel Lucille tensing up, as she starred at the rain. The lights continued to flicker as the couple made their way to the sofa,

"Jeff I think this could be the start to a really bad storm" Lucille quivered,

"Do you think?"

Jeff made his way to his mobile and pulled up the weather forecasts. He looked through them with a sharp eye and gulped at what he saw,

"There's a hurricane warning out for Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri"

Jeff and Lucille made eye contact and returned to the window. With every strike of lightning, the whole sky lit up, but they didn't see anything over the farmlands. Jeff returned to the sofa whilst Lucille stayed close to the window,

"Honey, we're ready for a hurricane; come and relax. If the siren sounds we know it's time to go; but it's only a warning"

"I have five children asleep in their beds, I can't be pulling them out one second too late; maybe we should go now"

Jeff felt the pang in his wife's words, but she reacted like it every time there was a storm,

"For the past decade we've lived here and there hasn't been anything major; tonight is identical to a couple of years ago, remember? The storm that drove us out to the shelter, but actually was a false alarm?"

Lucille shook her head and watched the darkened weather closer. She wasn't convinced, despite all her boys knowing the protocol. They'd run through it so they all had it drilled into their heads, but the house still had a tendency to groan under the stresses of housing the family of seven; but Lucille had a horrible feeling.

"Jeff, get the boys; now" Lucille demanded,

"Honey! Please will you calm down, I've lived in Kansas for a lifetime; trust me this is nothing"

Being an ex-colonel and astronaut, not much frightened Jefferson Tracy; and a freak thunderstorm wasn't going to scare him. But seeing his wife in a lot of distress did scare him. He stood up and walked back to her as the fire continued to crackle and held her closely,

"I wouldn't let anything ever happen to you, you've given me happiness in so many forms; and five of those forms I wouldn't put in danger if I knew otherwise"

Lucille nodded silently and continued to stare out the window, but instead started looking at her own reflection with Jeff standing behind her,

"Five?" Lucille almost questioned,

"Yeah, unless I can't count" Jeff jokingly replied, but quickly changed mood, "Five, right?"

"Well I never thought I would have five sons, you'd think there would be a girlie in there somewhere" Lucille looked longingly at Jeff,

"Are you saying you want another baby?" Jeff started to get excited,

"I would love another baby, I would love to have a daughter; but given our track record, that's unlikely"

Lucille and Jeff laughed together as they finally settled down and started talking about their sons. Lucille had wanted a daughter, but after her fourth son she knew it was never going to happen. It had always been a possibility of a sixth child, but with the current five; life was busy enough. The two fell into a light sleep as the rain continued to fall and for a couple of hours they rested; until Gordon hurdled down the stairs. He launched himself into Jeff's lap screaming at the top of his voice,

"Mum! Dad! Wake up! It's the woo-woo!"

Jeff and Lucille dozily woke to the red-head almost crying in front of them, and didn't fully understand what was happening,

"Gordon sweetie, you need to go back to bed" Lucille hushed,

"NO!" the small boy scream and ran to the window, pointing outside.

Jeff followed Gordon to the window and watched carefully. His eyes almost imploded at what he saw. Off in the distance, a large dark, rotating bulge was holding time still. Jeff gasped and then heard the whirl of the warning siren, he turned to Lucille,

"Ok, now we get the boys"

Lucille had no time to react and launched herself up the two flights of stairs to Scott and John's rooms. She flew into Scott's room knowing John was most likely already in there; she was right,

"Scott! Johnny! Wake up! We've got to get to the shelter! NOW!"

She flipped the two out of Scott's bed and forced them to the door as the wind and screeching could be heard clearly up in the attic. Scott and John flew downstairs towards the backdoor, whilst Lucille ran for Alan's room. She yanked the small boy out of bed and quickly followed the two eldest downstairs, with Jeff not far behind with Virgil on his tail. They all met at the back door and quickly ran through the flooded garden. Scott stopped half way to the shelter as a bolt of lightning struck and illuminated the sky; the monstrous black hurricane was much closer and only moved when John hurdled into him. It was almost on top of the house. Jeff wrestled with the shelter's heavy door and shoved his family down into the fairly roomy hurricane shelter; fully stocked for such an occasion. Jeff did a quick head count once the door was shut and turned white at the number he'd double counted,

"Five, there's only five of you"

Lucille scanned the room and felt her heart stop at only seeing four of her five sons,

"Virgil, where's Virgil?!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The shelter remained eerily quiet despite the storm drawing closer. Jeff held Lucille down as she tried to get to the door,

"Lucy! The wall of the storm is passing! Don't you dare open that door, otherwise you're risking everyone else's life!"

"Are you bloody crazy?! Virgil is still outside!"

Jeff fought with Lucille as the other boys hid towards the back of the shelter. They stopped when they heard a massive smack against the door,

"Something heavy has just hit the door" Jeff stated,

"Virgil" Lucille whimpered.

They all paused for a moment as the wind died down and that's when Lucille acted. She launched towards the door and with all her weight pushed it open. She looked around quickly not seeing Virgil and made her way to the house. Before she entered she could her groaning coming from the storm; she'd entered the storm's eye, and all around her was twisting black cloud until she looked up. She saw perfectly clear sky above her head and could see the stars twinkling back. She started to call for her son,

"Virgil! Virgil sweetheart! Where are you?"

"Mum, over here" a damaged voice called out from just inside the kitchen,

Virgil had slipped down the stairs and had smacked his head on the banister, briefly passing out. When he'd seen everyone had disappeared he ran for the kitchen table and hid under it praying for the best. When the storm's first wall hit, everything went flying and the backdoor flew open; sending shards of shrapnel everywhere, slicing his face in the process. He looked up when he saw his mum enter the kitchen and reached for her. Lucille grasped his hand and pulled him close,

"Oh my god! Your bleeding! Quick Virgil, we need to get to the shelter"

Lucille hauled Virgil up around her waist and launched back to the shelter where Jeff was waiting outside. Lucille practically threw Virgil at Jeff as the storm paused perfectly around the farmhouse and gardens. Lucille and Jeff got back inside and tried to pull the door shut; it wouldn't shut properly,

"It's not shutting, what hit it the first time round has knocked the lock out of joint" Jeff panicked,

"It needs to be locked from the outside" Lucille acknowledged to herself,

She stopped trying to move the door and looked to where Scott and John where tending to Virgil's bleeding head, she smiled sadly and then looked to her two youngest, who were holding each other in the corner on the floor. She looked back to Jeff and stopped him from trying to shut the door; she set her plan into action,

"Jeff, Virgil's bleeding! I'll get the door"

Jeff didn't think twice about what Lucille had said and launched towards Virgil seeing blood all over his face. He quickly tended to Virgil whilst Lucille removed her belt and looked upon her family,

"I love you all my precious darlings"

She slipped back outside and slammed the door shut from the outside. With her belt she firmly tied the door's hand to the locking handle, so that the door was almost impossible to open from the inside. She looped her leather belt a number of times between the two handles and found a random metal pole which she too fed through the two handles. She knew the door wasn't shifting.

Inside the shelter, Scott and John were trying to get their father's attention,

"DAD! Mum!" Scott bellowed,

"Hush Scott, Virgil's injured"

"But Dad-" John joined Scott as they ran towards the door,

"Boys! Please be- Lucy?"

Jeff stood quickly and ran towards the door and with everything he had, he tried to push the door open with Scott and John helping; it wasn't moving. He smacked the metal door and threw himself at it and it still wouldn't budge. Jeff looked at the door in disbelief,

"Lucille, no" Jeff choked on his words,

"Dad, where's Mum gone?" John cried with tears rolling down his face.

Jeff turned to his sons and looked at Virgil, he had to prioritise,

"Virgil's in trouble, he's lost a lot of blood. Scott go get the LS First Aid kit, John I need you to keep Gordon and Alan entertained"

"But-"

"No buts John, NOW" Jeff yelled, with hot tears pricking his eyes.

Outside, the storm had completely stopped, but still surrounded the Tracy's residence. Lucille looked up at the 360 degree wall of blackened debris as she could see cars hovering in the dark cloud. She saw trees, parts of houses and even tanker trucks rotating slowly around her head. Although the storm had to have had a radius of at least two miles, Lucille felt as though she could have reached out and grabbed something. She stood on the porch and looked over the garden where she saw her children's toys and other family's property scattering the lawn. She held back the tears and almost didn't breathe as the storm began to start rotating again. She was mesmerized by the twirling hell that started to approach her; she looked back to the shelter,

"I'm always with you my darlings, I love you so much"

Lucille walked into the half ruined house as the storm started to roar again. She found herself in the hallway looking at all the photographs, one of which stood out from the rest; the Christmas photo. She pulled it from the wall and started to cry as she looked at her son's faces. She swallowed her breathe as she felt the house begin to lift up as the screeching squeals from the storm became deafening. She closed her eyes and disappeared into her memory's, clutching the photo close,

"I love you my darlings, I love you"

Lucille's body was never found.


End file.
